about everything, there are some mp3 and many, many words

Month: February 2012

The Dalai Lama has recently said that “money does not give happiness , but a quiet heart.” Paradoxically, the money, as I have understood, relaxes quite a lot, it sees that between lectures, interviews, conferences and so on, does not have time to lose, for example, to watch movies, in fact if he sees Fast & Furious 5, he would understand that despite all those goings and comings from here to there , can not compete with the machine of fables, with its special effects, powerful explosions, breathtaking racings and weightlifters making verbal caresses and marking muscle. Certainly now that have ruined Megavideo, at least I will have no time to lose it in movies of this ilk, much less, money.

WhileI was writing this, a commercial on TV has distracted me, not for interesting but for grotesque. It was signed by Mediaset and curiously not announced anything specifically, came to say in other words that we must not bear in mind the news, which have repeatedly denounced anti-social work practices and corporations financial scandals, to we should trust in “brands”, not a particular one or any other, it was simply capitalist propaganda without slants or costumes and is an acute symptom of the economic depression of design, which have brought to us the financial corporations, which, in the same commercial, moreover boast of its important role in the social fabric and of course, appealing to the kindness of the vaunted “competitive spirit”, as dogma of faith. Later, another announcement of Mediaset, insisted on his nasty campaign, this time using the faces of famous celebrities adequately paid, I guess. Mercenaries.

As I was saying, this fugitive from chinese justice, whatever means this, because it is not clear what is “justice” in China, but does not look that the Dalai has got limited his movements, and I am not saying he leads an easy life, as well this man walks out there talking about absolutely fundamental things but outside of this time, really outside the time itself, ie they are of such eternal truths whose knowledge, currently does not carry any social success or material of any kind, although it is not necessary if we call for brotherhood and confidence, the reward is intrinsic, even without significant material value, just inside each one of us, that in fact, is where things really have value, however, is difficult to escape the bombing of charms and mirages with which they pounded us since we wake up until the night, from birth to death, pure pyrotechnic paraphernalia, a spectacle of wasted money, luxury and conceit, for not letting us think for a moment, to make us dependent on the archetypes and thoughts precooked from films and the press. We are now covered with tons of mediatic trash, whose sole purpose is to convince us that the crisis exists and above all, of it has not to pay those who invented it.

Buddhism is a philosophycal masterpiece that our spirits fed with testosterone and bad faith can not digest and a Buddhist it seems a skinhead with glasses bundled in a red rag and wearing sandals over brown socks. In my view, beyond the undeniable value and depth of the wisdom of this kind of Buddhism, the Tibetan one has the relevance that have given to them, their own opponents, China is what has pushed to Dalai Lama outside its borders, Tibetan society largely by its isolation, it is quite hermetic and access to the area of influence of the temples was forbidden to foreigners until relatively recently, Lamaism is a hierarchical organization, ritualistic and ceremonious despite the impression he may give his leader. As always, nothing is as it seems.

Other buddhisms exist, different interpretations or adaptations, extensions or additions, mainly because it is one of the skills that distinguish us as a species, manipulate things, sometimes to the point where it would be necessary that somebody would tell us “Let it be … if it is not broken, do not fix it”. There is a school of thought, at the level of business management which has found useful principles for their purposes in a variant of Buddhism, perhaps what has become in one of the most widespread.

Zen Buddhism, was born in China not in Japan, as often is thought, but is during the passage from the last one to the Western when has been forging, in my view, a rather different conception, more Japanese than Buddhist, where the elegant minimalism, practicality and atavistic respect for authority and tradition of the Nippon idiosyncrasies has supplanted the simplicity, sense of insubstantiality and Buddhist nihilism, the result is a philosophy suited to the interests of the upper class and therefore suitable for general consumption.

This metamorphosis into a principle has its origin in the practice of meditation itself, the use of this kind of spiritual tool can serve not only to achieve the Satori, Indian Nirvana , but can also be used with intentions as dark as those of Lord Sith. Meditation is something foreign to Western thought, our mentality bet millennia ago, by the messianic version of spirituality, if you do not mind waiting an eternity, it is much comfortable that someone comes and saves us.

The principle of meditation is very simple, just it needs concentrate at one point, an object, a light, whatever and only this, is the first thing that surprising us from our bourgeois perspective, it appears to have no utility and it is an exhausting way to waste time, because although it may seem, is a fucking thing to keep a long time sit in lotus position, on the other hand is very difficult to maintain the degree of concentration required long time and always have to be returning from the continuous distractions, in fact, most gives up after the first attempt, even the Dalai Lama once said that if there were a pill that would make unnecessary meditation, would be the first to take it, because it recognizes that meditating steals a lot of time that could have a best use, nevertheless, no trick, is purely a matter of practice, or so say the experts.

I think Nirvana is not the paradise, there are no houris nor heavenly temple, has nothing to do with this, which is what we are really accustomed and I doubt that can be explained in words, but by what I have understood is like a kind of ecstasy, during which he has a feeling of fullness, of “consciousness”, which is something that our minds dull of materialism, capture with difficulty. In any case, this is not the only goal of meditation as I said, also can be used for much more utilitarian purposes and as varied as for example to get warm as desired, which is something, as I do not like cold, I find very useful, also to control the pace heart, a skill that if were disseminated, it would save a lot of money and health problems, also is possible concoct marketing strategies, mentally preparing financial movements in advance, as in chess.

Positivism, separated from other Buddhist qualities becomes radical and the mere “every cloud has a silver lining” becomes fundamental law, an attitude that marry very well with the level of conformity necessary to keep the job, today. In fact there is a capitalist proverb clearly cynical, which states that “when you get fired, in fact, they are giving you the chance to find a better job,” a clear example of this kind of “positivism.” In short we must raise the achievement of benefits to the status of divinity, which is a sophisticated form of overlapped slavery, we must be the new Jobs of the new mystical materialist. However, it is true that there is more communication, a certain transversality that is not the crude authoritarianism uncouth we are accustomed, the forms are also important.

During the thirties and forties of last century, very hard years for the majority, figures as relevant of politics as the American president Roosevelt dared to denounce the financial practices of large U.S. companies to the point to threaten and accuse them publicly of treason, nothing less, but years later corporations got a substantial compensation from public funds for economic damage from the war (?) and now Ford is still a benchmark of prosperity, not an anti-Semitic writer awarded and honored by Hitler himself. That is why today, the political professionals, those who were supposed to be the guarantors of democracy, are perfectly aligned with the interests of capital, one can say they have learned the lesson: the truth can be very elastic and malleable so be honest it is not necessary to be successful. This is basically what movies like Fast & Furious 5 are dealing with, all serves while do not get caught. As I have understood, Dalai Lama watchs no films and goes to bed at nine o’clock at night, but he worships the cars, so that he may have seen the movie, in which case I would like to know what he thinks, although I can get an idea.